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Adventures of Mowgli

1973 Soviet animated film

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 17, 2026
Entity authorityQ15270742
Source-derived summary

Adventures of Mowgli (Russian: Маугли; also spelled Maugli) is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by "Krupnyy Plan" and "Lizard", separates the animation into the original five parts.

An English-language version made jointly by Soyuzmultfilm (Russia) and Cyrillic Films (U.S.) was completed in 1996 and released direct-to-video on April 28, 1998 under the name Adventures of Mowgli. Charlton Heston is the narrator in the English version. Proceeds from the U.S. release were donated to The Audrey Hepburn Hollywood for Children Fund.

Style

It proves an interesting contrast to the Disney Jungle Book, being more faithful to the epic and primal content of Kipling's original work. Soyuzmultfilm's adaptation appeared more adult and in spirit is closer to Kipling's book.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Adventures of Mowgli” as 1973 Soviet animated film. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Adventures, Mowgli and Soviet.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1967, 1971, 1973, 1996—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1973-07-31. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Adventures, Mowgli and Soviet providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Adventures of Mowgli”, the useful work is to connect “1973 Soviet animated film” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15270742. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1967, 1971, 1973 and 1996.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Adventures of Mowgli”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Adventures of Mowgli primary sources, Adventures of Mowgli archive and Adventures research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Adventures of Mowgli”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Adventures of Mowgli” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.